The Orioles Observer

I hate introductions.
There are few things worse than when you are at some sort of gathering, be it a company event, a school event, or something else, and the organizer says: “Why don’t we all go around the room and introduce ourselves”. It is even worse when the introductions are tied into some sort of ice-breaking game. I dread that moment when I have to introduce myself to a group of strangers. Having to listen to everyone else awkwardly share personal details about themselves isn’t all that fun either. I cannot tell you how much I despise forced introductions like that.

Having said that, I see no way of escaping the obligatory introductory post here to kick of my contributions at Orioles Observer. Believe me, this is more painful for me than it is for you.

Short story - I am a twenty-eight year old tax accountant currently living in downtown Baltimore. I don’t particularly care for my job. I make it through the days of nauseatingly boring tax work by thinking a lot about the Baltimore Orioles and baseball in general. When spring arrives, I take solace in my boring, work-a-day life by going to as many O’s games as I possibly can. In 2011, Tim and I attended about 65 Orioles games throughout the course of the season. Call it obsessive behavior or sadistic behavior – it doesn’t bother me. A lot of my friends and co-workers don’t understand how I can spend so much time on a team that has been woefully bad for the past 14 years. My rationale is simple – it is fun. I can’t think of many better ways to spend a nice summer night than drinking a couple of beers while watching a live baseball game. I don’t go to all of those games for any other reason than that I have fun doing it.

I grew up in Gaithersburg, Maryland and I have been an Orioles fan my entire life, though there were periods where I paid less attention to the team and baseball in general then I do now. In 2002, I came to Baltimore to attend college at Loyola University of Maryland. After graduation in 2006, I got a job in Baltimore and stuck around in the city. Tim and I ended up becoming roommates, sharing an apartment two blocks from Camden Yards. We started going to a few games a summer. A few turned into ten, which turned into 30, and so on until we attended all but maybe a dozen Orioles’ home games in 2011.

My hope for this blog is that it will provide an outlet for me to discuss the Orioles and baseball. I email Tim several times a day to randomly discuss any Orioles-related thoughts that pop into my head. I corner co-workers who only have a passing interest in baseball to tell them my thoughts on who should be the 7th man in the bullpen this season. It seems I might be better served in expressing all of my Orioles thoughts in this manner before I completely annoy my family, friends, and co-workers. I have no inside information and my baseball knowledge is limited to a lifelong passion for the game, six years of little league experience, and about six years of watching every single Orioles game on television or in person. I hope I can stumble on some interesting talking points from time to time and maybe along the way entice some more people to read this blog.

So there you go – there is my introduction. I would like to say that it wasn’t as painful as I feared, but I don’t want to end my first blog post by lying to you.